About collaboration for Pages, Numbers, and Keynote

Invite others to your documents and work on them together in real time. Collaboration is built into the iWork apps on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and iCloud.com.

Here's what you need

With these Apple devices and software versions, you can use iWork collaboration:

A Mac with macOS High Sierra and Pages 7.2, Numbers 5.2, or Keynote 8.2 or later.

An iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 11 and Pages 4.2, Numbers 4.2, or Keynote 4.2 or later.

With these browser versions, you can collaborate online:

Safari 9 or later, or Google Chrome 50 or later for your Mac

Internet Explorer 11 or later, or Google Chrome 50 or later for your Windows PC

If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with earlier versions of iOS or iWork apps, or if you have an Android device, you can view documents but not edit them. If collaboration features aren't available, learn what to do.

If you use Managed Apple IDs, teachers and students who are in your organization can collaborate with iWork.

Sign in to iCloud

Invite others to collaborate

When you invite people to collaborate on a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, the app creates an iCloud.com link for you to send to them. If you set restrictions so that only people you invite can collaborate on your document, they must sign in to iCloud or iCloud.com with their Apple ID.

The name of the document is included in the URL. If the title or content of the document is confidential, make sure to ask participants not to forward the link to anyone else.

Invite people from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If your document is already open in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote, tap , then tap Collaborate With Others. If you're in the document manager, tap Browse, tap Select, then tap the document you want to share. Tap Share or , then tap Add People. If the document you selected hasn't downloaded to your device, it downloads now.

To set restrictions on who can view and change your document, tap Share Options, then choose an option. By default, people that you invite can edit your document.

Tap your preferred method for sending the link.

Add any other information, then send or post the message.

This icon appears at the top of your document. This icon also shows how many people have the document open, not including you.

Invite people from your Mac

From Pages, Numbers, or Keynote, open the document that you want to share.

In the toolbar, click .

To set restrictions on who can view and change your document, click Share Options, then choose an option. By default, people that you invite can edit your document.

Choose how you want to invite others to work on your document.

Click Share, then send or post the message.

This icon appears at the top of your document. This icon also shows how many people have the document open, not including you.

Invite people from iCloud.com

If your document is already open in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote for iCloud, click in the toolbar. If you're in the document manager, select a document, then click . Choose Collaborate With Others.

To set restrictions on who can view and change your document, click Share Options. By default, people that you invite can edit your document.

Choose how you want to invite others to work on your documents. If you have web-only iCloud access, you must copy the link.

Click Share, then send or post the message.

This icon appears at the top of your document. This icon also shows how many people have the document open, not including you.

Set restrictions on documents

On your Mac or online at iCloud.com, click . On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, tap, then tap Collaborate With Others.

Choose Share Options, then select any of the following options:

If you want only specific participants to access the document, choose "Only people you invite." To open the shared document, those participants must sign in to iCloud or iCloud.com with an Apple ID. If they don't have an Apple ID, they can create an Apple ID after you share the document with them.

If you want anyone who has the link to the shared document to be able to open it, choose "Anyone with the link."

If you want anyone who can access the document to be able to edit and print it, choose "Can make changes."

If you want anyone who can access the document to be able to view and print, but not edit it, choose "View only."

You can change Share Options at any time. To change Share Options, click or tap , then make the changes you want.

Set a password

You can also assign a password to a document so that only those who know the password can open the document:

On your Mac, choose File > Set Password, enter the password and a hint, then click Set Password.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, with the document open, tap , tap Set Password, enter the requested information, then tap Done.

Online at iCloud.com, click , click Set Password, enter the password and a hint, then click Set Password.

Collaborate on a shared document

You can see the edits that others make in real time, hide or show editing activity, and more.

If you want to see the documents that are shared:

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, tap Recents or in the document manager. Your shared documents appear at the bottom of the screen.

See who's working on the document

To see who's joined the document, tap or click . If you see a dot next to someone's name in list, it means they have the document open. If you want to communicate with other participants, you can add and reply to comments without leaving Pages, Numbers, or Keynote using threaded comments.

Follow someone's edits

Edits to the document appear in real time–—look for color-coded cursors, text, and object selections. Tap or click , then tap or click the dot next to the person's name to see where they are editing.

Hide or show collaboration activity

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, tap , then turn Collaboration Activity on or off.

On iCloud.com on a Mac or PC, click in the toolbar, then choose Hide Collaboration Activity or Show Collaboration Activity.

Edit when you're offline

On Mac and iOS, you can edit a shared document only when your device is connected to the Internet. If it isn't connected, or if you go offline while collaborating, the app displays an alert asking if you’d like to work on an offline copy of the document.

If you go offline while collaborating from iCloud.com, your changes won't appear for others until you reconnect to the Internet.

Change language and region settings

Your document's language and region settings match the system language and region setting of your device at the time that you invited others to collaborate. You can't use customized region formatting when you invite others to work on your document.

To change these settings, turn off collaboration, make your changes, then share the document again.

Stop sharing a document

Open the document, then tap or click > Stop Sharing, then tap or click OK.

When you stop sharing, the document is removed from iCloud Drive for all participants. If you re-share the document later, the link will remain the same. If you set the document's Share Option to "Only people you invite," you will need to re-invite participants.

Features not supported with collaboration

If you need to use one of these features on Mac or iOS, stop sharing the document, make your changes, then share the document again. When you stop sharing, the document is removed from iCloud Drive for all participants. If you've restricted the document to "Only people you invite," you will need to re-invite everyone after.

These features aren't currently available when you collaborate with other participants:

3 You can't reduce the size of a shared document, but you can reduce the size of a copy.

4 Change tracking is supported on Mac and iOS only. If you're using iCloud.com, and change tracking is turned on, you can view the document, but not edit it.

If collaboration isn't available

If you use Pages, Numbers, or Keynote and collaboration isn't available, you might need to update your apps on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. Turn on automatic updates so that your apps always stay up to date. If your device is too old to install the versions of macOS, iOS, or iWork, you can collaborate on iCloud.com using a Mac or PC.

If you want to send a copy of the document, you can send it without collaborating:

On your Mac, go to Share > Send a Copy. To add a shortcut to the toolbar, Control-click the toolbar, then select Customize Toolbar. Drag the Send a Copy item into the toolbar.

Learn more

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